Richmond Farmers Market, Indiana

      Posted On: June 28, 2018

Year Founded: 2015

Market Season: Saturdays, May-October (8 am- 12 pm); Tuesdays, July-September (4 pm- 7 pm)

State: Indiana

Mission Statement: The Richmond Farmers Market is a growers-only market in support of the interest of local farmers, producers, and consumers. The purpose of the market is to create a sales venue for area farmers, provide opportunity for consumers to purchase quality local food and farm-grown goods, provide a community gathering place, to promote and stimulate economic development, and create traffic in the Downtown area.

NFMW Plans: “We are hoping to host a Farm to Fork Dinner, conduct a t-shirt contest, have live music and giveaways at all three markets during NFMW, (maybe) do a corn on the cob eating contest, and possibly more events. We are working to get a mayoral proclamation, and will be working with local media outlets to blast from the rooftops information about NFMW and our featured status.”- Caleb Smith, Market Manager

About the Market: The Richmond Farmers Market (RFM) has been under the stewardship of the Richmond Parks & Recreation Department (RPRD) since 2015. In that time, we have grown from 3 vendors to over 80 registered vendors a season (averaging 45 per market), have worked with the city to build a new park (using $2.5m from the State of Indiana’s Stellar Communities program) that now is the home for the RFM, and have begun many new and innovative programs and activities that make the Market a community gathering space every week. We run a SNAP Double Dollars program that has seen wild success, have begun a “Kid’s Corner” program that provides activities for children at every Market, are beginning to implement regular cooking demonstrations, and have changed our Tuesday evening market structure to include live music, food trucks, a beer and wine garden, and many more vendors than we used to have on Tuesdays.

The most important part of our market is that we are 100% growers only, and fully live by the “grow it, make it, or bake it” philosophy. The vendor-run Market that existed before the RPRD was asked by vendors to assist in management had no limitations on who could sell at the Market, and because of this many customers began to lose trust in the Market. The transition to being growers only has allowed the RFM to win back the trust of the community.

Overall, our goal is to make the RFM a community gathering place – somewhere that isn’t just a shopping trip, but a place where people visit with each other, chat with the people that grew/made their food, and sit down and relax to enjoy the many amenities available at the RFM.

Statistic or Market Accomplishment: During our first year of accepting SNAP at the Market (2016), we had $546 in SNAP spent at the Market. When we rolled out our SNAP Double Dollars program in 2017, we had $10,998 in SNAP+Double Dollars spent at the Market in the Summer season!

Market Widget Report: